Drawer guiding and supporting assembly



March 26, 1968 D. ANDERSON DRAWER GUIDING AND SUPPORTING ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 6, 1967 [\JVEIMTQW Don a. 2 cl L. CH nde-ru'on.

March 26, 1968 D. ANDERSON 3,375,051

DRAWER GUIDING AND SUPPORTING ASSEMBLY Filed March 6, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,375,051 DRAWER GUIDING AND SUPPORTING ASSEMBLY Donald L. Andersen, Fort Atkinson, Wis, assignor to Amerock Corporation, Rockford, 111., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Mar. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 621,021 11 Claims. (Cl. 312343) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An assembly for guiding and supporting a drawer in a cabinet of the type manufactured without built-in cross rails. The assembly includes its own cross rail which simply may be placed on a pair of mounting brackets fastened to the cabinet side walls, and then locked securely to the brackets at the same time a central guide channel is anchored between the cross rail and the rear wall of the cabinet.

Background of the invention This invention relates to a drawer guiding and supporting assembly of the type in which the drawer is guided for back and forth sliding within the opening of a cabinet by an elongated horizontal guide fastened to the rear frame member of the cabinet and extending forwardly from the rear member approximately midway between opposed side frame members.

Summary 0 the invention The primary aim of the present invention is to provide a new and improved drawer guiding and supporting assembly of the above character which is especially suitable for use with modern cabinets of the type manufactured without the usual built-in horizontal cross rails for supporting the forward end of the guide and which, at the same time, is less expensive in construction and is more rapidly and economically installed than prior guiding and supporting arrangements used in cabinets of the same general type. In a more detailed aspect the invention contemplates a novel guiding and supporting assembly which includes its own cross rail for supporting the forward end of the guide and adapted, after simply being slipped into place between the side frame members, to be locked rigidly in its installed position as an incident to anchoring the guide between the cross rail and the rear frame memher.

The invention also resides in the novel construction of a pair of supporting brackets which automatically interfit with'and support the cross rail from the side frame members when the rail is slipped into place between the frame members. In addition to simplifying installation of the rail, the supporting brackets are mountable universally on either of the two side frame members thereby reducing manufacturing costs and inventory requirements.

Brief description 07 the drawings FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a cabinet equipped with a drawer guiding and supporting assembly embodying the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the guiding and supporting assembly.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the forward end of the guide.

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of one of the supporting brackets.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the supporting 3,375,051 Patented Mar. 26, 1968 bracket and showing the first step in installing the CI'OSn rail.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of parts illustrated in FIG. 6 and showing the cross rail in an installed position.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the supporting bracket.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the guiding and supporting assembly as installed in the cabinet.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary plan view of the installed assembly.

Detailed description As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in a guiding and supporting assembly 11 for a drawer 13 which slides back and forth within an opening 14 in a cabinet 15. To facilitate such back and forth sliding, an anti-friction roller 16 (FIG. 2) is journaled at the lower end of a plate 17 fastened to the rear of the drawer and rolls back and forth in an elongated horizontal guide in the form of a flanged channel 19 which supports the rear of the drawer and guides the drawer in and out of the cabinet. The channel, which forms part of the assembly 11, is telescoped snugly into the socket of a plastic bracket 20- stapled to a rear frame member or wall 21 of the cabinet and extends forwardly beneath the center of the drawer midway between a pair of opposed side frame members or walls 23.

Herein, the cabinet 15, as illustrated, may be of the type in which the material of the walls is sufficiently resistant to warping to permit manufacture of the cabinet without the usual face frame. That is, the cabinet does not require a separate frame extending around the periphery of the opening 14 and fastened near the forward edges of the cabinet walls. Moreover, the space within the cabinet between the drawer 13 and the bottom wall 24 of the cabinet may be entirely open and used for storage in the regular manner, or this space optionally may be filled with one or more additional drawers 25 slidably mounted beneath the upper drawer 13 and guided by additional channels 19. Usually, a decorative face panel 26 is fastened to the forward side of the upper drawer and overlaps and abuts against the forward edges of the side walls 23, while the lower drawers are of the same width as the opening 14 and are hidden by the cabinet door 27 when the latter is closed. A cabinet of this design thus may not include the usual horizontal cross rails built into the face frame and extending between the side walls for supporting the forward ends of the guide channels 19, either because the cabinet simply does not have a face frame or because it maybe desired to use the lower portion of the opening for ordinary storage purposes rather than filling the Opening with additional drawers 25.

The present invention contemplates a new and improved guiding and supporting assembly 11 particularly suitable for use with cabinets of the above type and having its own cross rail 30 which supports the forward end of the guide channel 19 and which may be attached to the side walls 23 simply by being slipped between the walls. Moreover, the cross rail is anchored securely in its installed position at the same time the channel is fastened between the rail and the rear wall 21 and by the same motion used for fastening the channel. To these ends, the assembly includes a pair of novel side brackets 31 mountable on the side walls 23 of the cabinet and adapted to interfit automatically with the ends of the cross rail when the latter is placed between the side walls. The guide channel 19, when fastened between the rail and the rear wall 21, acts as a brace to lock the rail to the brackets and to hold the rail in its installed position. With this arrangement, the assembly 11 can be installed faster and more economically than prior constructions used for guiding and supporting the drawers of similar types of cabinets.

In the present instance, the cross rail 30 is a sheet metal stamping of inverted L-shape and formed with a horizontal flange '33 and a vertical flange 34. Near each end of the rail, a first slot 35 (FIGS. 2 and 6) is punched out of the horizontal flange, and a second slot 36 spaced outwardly from the first slot is formed through the corner of the L at the junction of the vertical and horizontal flanges. These slots coact with the brackets 31 to enable attachment of the rail to the brackets as the rail is slipped between the side walls 23.

As shown most clearly in FIGS. 2, and 8, each supporting bracket 31 also is a sheet metal stamping which is formed with an upright mounting wing 37 adapted for face-to-face fastening to one of the side walls 23 by a pair of screws 39 extending through horizontally spaced holes 40 in the wing. Integral with and projecting inwardly from the lower edge of the mounting wing is a horizontal flange 41 which supports the cross rail 30. The flange 41 is formed with a first tab 45 upturned from the inner edge of the flange just rearwardly of its front edge, and also is formed with a second tab 46 disposed in the same horizontal plane as the flange and projecting forwardly from the front edge of the flange. The tabs 45 and 46 project into the slots 35 and 36, respectively, in the cross rail to hold the latter in place on the brackets and between the side walls. To simplify manufacture and reduce inventory requirements, an identical pair of tabs 45' and 46 are formed on the rear portion of the flange 41 so that the same bracket can be used equally well on either the left side wall or the right side wall simply by turning the bracket end-for-end. As a result, the cabinet maker or installer need not be concerned with whether the correct bracket is being attached to the left or right wall, and there is no danger of ending up with a shortage of brackets for one wall and a surplus of brackets for the other wall.

Preferably, a flanged roller or wheel 47 is journaled for rotation in each bracket 31 so as to engage the lower side edge of the drawer and support the drawer for free and relatively frictionless sliding back and forth within the cabinet. Herein, the wheel is fitted into a hole 49 (FIG. 8) punched through the center of the bracket flange 41 and is positioned with its upper periphery spaced above the level of the flange to keep the drawer from rubbing against the flange. The wheel is iournaled on a horizontal rivet 50 (FIG. 5) whose one end is fastened to a lug 51 turned downwardly from the flange adjacent the inner edge of the hole and whose other end is fastened to an ear 53 projecting downwardly from the mounting wing 37 and formed from the material punched out of the hole 49.

To install the guiding and supporting assembly 11 in the cabinet 15 for use with, for example, the upper drawer 13, the two mounting brackets 31 first are fastened to the side walls 23 of the cabinet by the screws 39 as shown most clearly in FIG. 5. A suitable gage may be used to determine the proper distance a that each screw should be placed below the top frame member or counter 24a of the cabinet to insure that the distance between the counter and the upper surface of each wheel 47 will be correlated with the height of the drawer.

After the brackets 31 have been attached to the side walls 23, the cross rail 30 is placed between the side walls and is tilted counterclockwise about its longitudinal axis through a slight angle (see FIG. 6). With the rail tilted in this manner, the free edge of the horizontal rail flange 3'3 is disposed above the upper edge of the upright tab 45 and thus the rail may be shifted forwardly past the tab and to the position shown in FIG. 6 thereby to slip the slot 36 over the tab 46 projecting forwardly from the bracket flange 41. Finally, the rail is turned reversely or clockwise to return the flange 33 to a horizontal position as shown in FIG. 7, the slot 35 passing downwardly over and interfitting with the tab 45 during such turning. With the rail thus slipped into its installed position, the fastening tabs 45 and 46 and the complementary fastening slots 35 and 36 coact to prevent back and forth, up and down,

and sidewise movement of the rail relative to the brackets. The rail can be removed from the brackets only if it again is tilted counterclockwise about its axis and then pulled forwardly away from the brackets. Moreover, the advantageous positioning of the tabs and the slots permits the horizontal rail flange 33 to rest face-to-face against the upper surface of the bracket flanges 4-1 and permits the upper portion of the vertical rail flange 34 to abut directly against the forward edges of the bracket flanges thereby to insure that the rail will be held in a stable position on the brackets.

After the cross rail 30 has been slipped onto the side brackets 31, the rear plastic bracket 20- is telescoped over the rear end of the guide channel 19, and then the forward end of the channel is fastened to the horizontal flange 33 of the rail at a point located approximately midway between the ends of the rail. For this purpose, a plate 54 (FIG. 4) fastened onto the forward end of the channel is formed with a horizontal lip 55 which is adapted to overlie the horizontal flange 33 of the rail. The lip may be fastened to the rail by a screw 56 (FIG. 2) extending through a hole 57 in the lip and threaded into horizontal rail flange.

Finally, the rear bracket 20 is anchored to the rear wall 21 of the cabinet 15 to complete the installation of the assembly 11. In the case of the upper drawer 13, attachment of the bracket 20 to the rear wall is facilitated by placing the drawer in the cabinet opening 14 with the guide roller 16 fitted into the channel 19 and Wih the lower edges of the drawer resting on the wheels 47. With the front panel 26 of the drawer being held tightly against the front edges of the side walls 23 to position the drawer squarely within the opening, the rear end of the drawer is raised to and held in its normal horizontal position so that the roller 16 engages the upper flange of the channel 19 to raise the rear end of the channel to a position adjacent the rear Wall 21. Thus, the bracket 20 and the rear end of the channel are alined automatically, both horizontally and vertically with the forward end of the channel. A nail or staple then may be driven forwardly through the rear wall and embedded in the center of plas ic bracket to retain the bracket and the channel in position during service use of the cabinet.

At the same time the rear bracket 20 is fastened to the rear wall 21, the cross rail 30 is locked automatically on the side brackets 31 since the guide channel 19 serves as a brace tying the rail to the rear wall to prevent the rail from being tilted counterclockwise and away from the fastening tabs 45 and 46. Accordingly, the cross rail is anchored securely to the side brackets and by the same motion used for fastening the rear end of the channel even though the cross rail was installed initially on the brackets with a simple slip-in action.

When installing a guiding and supporting assembly 11 for one of the lower drawers 25, the plastic bracket 29 usually is fastened to the rear wall 21 in a properly alined position before the guide channel 19 is installed. The rear end of the channel is telescoped into the socket of the anchored rear bracket and the forward end of the channel is fastened to the cross rail 30 to lock both the channel and the rail rigidly in place. This minor variance in installation procedure results from the fact that the drawers 25 do not have face panels for abutting against the forward edges of the side walls 23 to hold the drawer squarely within the opening 14 and thus horizontally aline the bracket 20 and the rear end of the channel with the forward end of the channel.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the new and improved assembly 11 may be installed rapidly and easily in the cabinet thus resulting in a saving in installation time and a corresponding saving in installation costs. Since conventional assemblies used in cabinets with builtin cross rails usually also include brackets for supporting a pair of side wheels 47, the only additional installation step necessary with the assembly 11 of the present invention is that of simply placing the cross rail 30 on the brackets 31. Moreover, the assembly is especially suitable for use with cabinets which may be converted to include additional drawers 25 since a cabinet distributor need only purchase a standard cabinet unit and then install one or more additional assemblies 11 if the customer elects to purchase the extra drawers.

1 claim as my invention:

1. An assembly for guiding and supporting a drawer for back and forth sliding within a cabinet having a rear frame member and opposed side frame members, said assembly comprising a pair of mounting brackets each' adapted for fastening to one of the side members, a cross rail extending horizontally between the side members and supported at its ends on said brackets, complementary fastening means on said brackets and the ends of said rail for engaging and interfitting loosely with each other as an incident to placing said rail on said brackets thereby to hold the rail detachably on the brackets, an elongated guide extending rearwardly and horizontally from said rail approximately midway between the ends of the rail, and means for fastening the forward end of said guide to said rail and for fastening the rear end of said guide to the rear member whereby the guide ties the rail to the rear member to prevent separation of said interfitting fasteners and to lock the rail securely on said brackets.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 in which each bracket includes an upright mounting portion adapted to be fastened to one of the side members, and a horizontal flange formed integrally with said mounting portion and projecting away from the side member.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 in which said fastening means on said rail comprise holes in the ends of the rail, and said fastening means on said brackets comprise tabs formed integrally on said flanges and projecting into said holes.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 in which each tab is formed on the forward end portion of its respective flange, and further including an additional tab formed on the rear end portion of the flange.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 in which a hole is formed in each flange between the forward and rear tabs, and further including a roller disposed in said hole and journaled on said bracket for rotation about a horizontal axis, the upper periphery of said roller being disposed at a level above said flange.

6. An assembly for supporting and guiding a drawer for back and forth sliding Within a cabinet having a rear frame member and opposed side frame members, said assembly comprising a pair of mounting brackets each adapted for fastening to one of the side members, a cross rail extending horizontally between the side members and supported at its ends on said brackets, a fastener on each of said brackets and a complementary fastener on each end of said rail, one of said fasteners comprising a hole and the other of said fasteners comprising a tab, said tabs fitting into said holes as said rail is placed on said brackets thereby to hold the rail loosely on the brackets, an elongated guide extending rearwardly from said rail approximately midway between the ends of the rail, and means for fastening the forward end of said guide to said rail and for anchoring the rear end of said guide to the rear member whereby the guide acts as a brace to prevent separation of said fasteners and to lock the rail securely on said brackets.

7. For use with a cabinet having a rear frame member, and having opposed top and bottom frame members and opposed side frame members defining a forwardly facing and uninterrupted opening corresponding in height to the distance between the top and bottom frame members, the combination of, a drawer guide and support package for guiding and supporting a drawer for back and forth sliding within the opening, said package comprising a pair of mounting brackets each adapted for fastening to one of the side members, a cross rail for extending horizontally between said brackets at a level above the bottom member, complementary fasteners formed on said brackets and the ends of said rail and adapted to engage and interfit loosely with each othre as an incident to placing said rail on said brackets thereby to hold the rail dctachably on the brackets, an elongated guide for extending rearwardly and horizontally from said rail approximately midway between the ends of the rail, and means for fastening the forward end of said guide to said rail and for anchoring the rear end of said guide to the rear member.

8. The combination defined in claim 7 in which each bracket includes an upright mounting portion for face-toface attachment to one of the side members, and a horizontal flange formed integrally with said mounting portion and adapted to extend toward the other side member.

9. The combination defined in claim 8 in which said fastener on said bracket is formed integrally with the forward end portion of said flange, and further including a similar fastener formed integrally with the rear end portion of said flange.

10. The combination defined in claim 8 in which said fastener on said bracket comprises a first tab projecting upwardly from said flange, and a second tab projecting forwardly from the forward edge of said flange, said rail being L-shaped and having a horizontal flange for overlying and resting on the horizontal bracket flange and having a vertical flange for abutting against the forward edge of the bracket flange, said fastener on each end of said rail comprising a first slot in said horizontal rail flange for fitting over said first tab, and a second slot in the corner of the L for fitting over said second tab.

11. The combination defined in claim 10 further including a roller journaled on said bracket for rotation about a horizontal axis, the upper periphery of said roller being disposed at a level above said bracket flange.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,040,907 10/1912 Dunleavy 312344 X 3,015,532 1/1962 Wilson 312344 X 3,090,662 5/1963 Dal-gene 312343 3,094,363 6/1963 Fremstad et al 312-343 3,112,960 12/1963 Hillson et al 312343 JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner, 

